Presently available technology supports position location functions, enabling mobile equipment to accurately indicate geographic positions to respective users, and even guide such users to preset destinations. Other available technology (exemplified for instance by systems which communicate with cellular radio-telephones and operate to automatically link the latter devices with different signal relay towers as such devices move between areas served by such towers) can be used to derive position information from cellular devices (e.g. for use in xe2x80x9c911xe2x80x9d emergencies).
Industries providing travel-related servicesxe2x80x94exemplified by automobile rental enterprises, airlines, railroads, buses, cruise ship operators, hotels, food caterers, etc.xe2x80x94increasingly seek to attract customers with special value-added services. Typically such service are given names associated with valuable objects (platinum, gold, diamonds, etc.). For example, one car rental company offers a xe2x80x9cgold cardxe2x80x9d service whereby customers entitled to the service, while being transported from an airport to a nearby company terminal, identify themselves to the bus driver who in turn notifies representatives at the terminal. As a result, rental cars assigned to passengers so identified are made immediately available at the terminal, eliminating need for such customers to enter the branch office, wait for a representative to serve them, complete forms, etc. A similar service, offered by hotels, provides guests with transportation from nearby airports to respective hotels when guests telephone to announce their arrival at the airport.
A common aspect of the foregoing services is that their implementation usually requires overt actions by guests (or customers or clients, etc.) upon arrival at a travel terminal close to a place of business offering the service. An aspect of presently known services of this character is that the required overt acts usually involve oral communication, between the arriving guest and a representative of the business offering the service, to identify the arriving guest, and may even require the guest to locate and display a card indicating their entitlement to the service.
In the rush of travel, it is frequently difficult and/or awkward for guests to carry out such acts of identification. Furthermore, this difficulty or awkwardness may be compounded if the communications and acts need to be carried out in a particular place (e.g. at a telephone in an air terminal, or on a shuttle van, etc.) where the act may be impeded by crowds of travelers or vehicle motion or both.
Accordingly, a need is perceived for providing such service on an automated basis which effectively would relieve guests/clients (hereafter xe2x80x9cusersxe2x80x9d) of burdens of communicating orally with representatives of businesses providing the service, and perhaps more importantly is conditioned upon automated telecommunication functions which can be programmed to occur automatically when users reach a pre-arranged distance of proximity to a destination associated with the service. Thus, for instance, services associated with expediting baggage check-in at airports can be triggered into effect as users of the service enter airport grounds, services expediting delivery of rental cars to users arriving at an airport can be triggered into effect as users arrive, services for expediting transportation from air terminals to hotels can be triggered into effect when users arrive at the air terminals, services to expedite take-out catering functions can be activated when a user is within a few blocks of a respective catering service site, etc.
In accordance with this invention, users of presently contemplated services employ state of art programmable portable instruments that are adapted to be programmable to be effectively aware of their locations and to begin automatic transmissions of pre-arranged signals (typically, in a wireless mode), to business sites providing the services, as respective users reach a predetermined distance of proximity to such sites. The pre-arranged signals include signals identifying respective users.
Preferably, programming of such instruments is effected before or during a trip to a destination offering the service. Such programming is implemented, through wireless or other data communication networks, either by businesses providing the services or third parties operating as agents of these businesses. Furthermore, the pre-arranged, signal transmissions preferably are in a standardized form enabling different types of businesses (requiring different proximity factors for beginning activation of their services and different actions for implementing respective services) to use common reception equipment to: a) properly identify authorized users of their services, and b) begin activating respective services exclusively for such users. Furthermore, such programming preferably is sufficiently flexible to allow different businesses to establish different proximity conditions for triggering user-identifying transmissions.
Although portable instruments that are programmable to be effectively aware of their locations are presently state of the art, a distinction of the present invention is that its instruments are programmable by diverse entities or persons to perform presently contemplated signaling functions as users of the instruments reach predetermined proximity to sites at which services and/or functions associated with their programming are to be completed.
Instruments generally xe2x80x9cawarexe2x80x9d of their geographic locations (either by communications with earth satellites or with cellular relay stations) are presently termed xe2x80x9cpervasive location aware/communicating devicesxe2x80x9d (abbreviated as xe2x80x9cPLAD""sxe2x80x9d). Instruments that are specifically adaptable to receiving programming associated with presently contemplated services, and to perform presently contemplated signal transmissions conditioned on proximity factors, are viewed presently as a new class of PLAD""s.
As presently contemplated, a common aspect of this new class is that its PLAD""s are subject to being dynamically programmed, before or during a visit to a specific site at which a service or other function is to be performed, to: a) detect when the PLAD (and its user) are within a predetermined range of proximity to the site; and b) upon such detection, initiate transmission of information enabling apparatus receiving the transmissions to verify that they are from a user of a pre-scheduled service and initiate actions appropriate for implementing the service in synchronism with the user""s projected time of arrival at the site. It is contemplated further that PLAD""s in this class will be adaptable to receive transmissions from or associated with proximate sites, in order to support implementation of applications which require bidirectional transmissions; applications requiring verification that the respective PLAD is in possession of an authorized user.
Programming of a PLAD instrument in this new class should be simple, flexible and dynamically variable so as to allow e.g. for supporting triggering of several different proximity-associated service applications in the course of a single trip; for instance, triggering of a first application en route to a departure airport (e.g. enabling the device user to obtain a seat assignment on a scheduled flight, and possibly to-schedule baggage handling automatically, while en route to that airport), and triggering of a second service application upon arrival at a destination airport (e.g. enabling the same user/traveler to have a shuttle van automatically dispatched to the airport from either a car rental service or a pre-booked hotel at that time).
Presently contemplated PLAD""s also can be used to set up proximity-related control functions. For example, an incoming guest""s proximity notification to a hotel can be used to initiate a room thermostat adjustment, so that the room temperature is comfortable when the guest arrives but can be efficiently held at a less comfortable setting while the room is unoccupied.
Also, such control functions can be exerted in a reverse sense, as a PLAD""s user moves away from a given site. For example, it can function relative to a user""s home to automatically arm security systems that a user has forgotten to manually set, adjust temperatures, turn off unnecessary lighting, shut off appliances accidentally left on, etc, as a user travels away from his/her home.
Software supporting such applications can be transferred to PLAD""s in this new class by various means that may presently be known in other contexts. It could be downloaded through existing or new communication networks; such as the Internet, the PSTN (public switched telephone network), existing radio-telephone networks, etc. Alternatively, it could be transferred directly to the device from a computer, via an associated adapter. In the latter form of transfer, the computer could be a computer located at the user""s residence or office, a computer located at an airport or rail terminal, etc.
Features of this invention are:
programming of portable and programmable PLAD (pervasive location aware devices) communication devices to provide proximity notification and user identification signals to specifically addressed destinations as devices reach predetermined proximity ranges to such destinations
use of such devices to enable businesses receiving the foregoing notification and identification signals to pre-arrange for providing special services to respective users as they arrive at respective destinations
use of such devices to accommodate different proximity ranges for different destinations
configuring such devices to be programmable to provide the foregoing signals through a variety of communication networks as well as through PC""s (personal computers) and a variety of storage media used by PC""s
configuring such devices so that proximity ranges associated with services to be provided can be varied to accommodate service requirements of many different business, government, personal and other types of users
configuring such devices so that software pertaining to a given service can be downloaded thereto when an authorized user of the device reserves a given service relative to a specific business
configuring such devices to be able to store software pertaining to a given service in reusable form
configuring such devices to accommodate software applications pertaining to varied services at a plurality of destinations, and also to be able to store and execute such applications simultaneously while the device user is en route sequentially to those destinations
use of such devices in a manner ensuring user privacy; e.g. with proximity notification signals giving the user""s proximity to a destination without revealing the user""s location
use of such devices to receive proximity notifications in situations wherein the device user is stationary and the service is being brought to that user in a mobile vehicle
use of such devices to provide services in a xe2x80x9cno-waitingxe2x80x9d mode that are available on the user""s arrival at a destination
use of such devices and their software to provide functions ancillary to proximity notification; e.g. xe2x80x9clook-ahead informationxe2x80x9d preparing a device user in a car to be able to avoid congestion conditions on roads (for example, advising the user of best immediate routes to a destination, and alerting the user to take detours where needed) and at bridges and tunnels along a route (for example, enabling the user to aim for a specific least-congested toll booth)
use of PLAD""s to communicate with notification services independent of businesses at service destinations; e.g. to support service applications requiring frequent exchanges of information and possible redirection of a user (for example, a service in which the facility communicating with the user directs the user to a nearest garage with space available in a given area of a large city or to a nearest parking facility with space available at a busy airport, or alerts the user to traffic congestion problems and possible avoidances along the user""s current route, etc)
use of PLAD""s to provide or augment PIM (personal information manager) scheduling functions
use of PLAD""s to provide proximity-associated functions in a reverse sense; i.e. based on a user""s range of remoteness from a starting site such as the user""s home
use of PLAD""s to provide proximity-proximity notification from mobile service providers such as taxicabs to stationary service recipients
use of PLAD""s to sustain new business functions; e.g. airlines could offer special discounts to customers who agree to use PLAD""s en route to airports and relinquish seats if they are a predefined distance from the airport at predefined times before scheduled flight departures.
These and other uses and features of this invention will be more fully understood from the following description.